Nearly 6000 people have died in Amazonas from covert 19, and it's now in the grip of a devastating second wave.

Scientists are trying to work out whether this variant is more contagious than earlier ones, but there are signs it is spreading overseas.

That concern led Britain to ban travelers from Brazil and other South American countries as a result, as well as banning Portugal, which has close ties to Brazil after Japan said it had detected the Brazilian variant in four travelers from Amazonas, Amazonas extended its urgent call for oxygen to the United States as hospitals in the capital, Manaus, near breaking point.

Scores of patients are being airlifted from Manaus on isolated city deep in the Amazon rainforest to other states.

The variant found in Brazil has 12 mutations, including one also found in the highly contagious variants discovered in Britain and South Africa.

Brazil's president Jacob, also narrow, has been lambasted for downplaying the severity of Brazil's outbreak, though it's the world's second deadliest.

As pressure mounts on the country to get vaccinations underway, he cast doubt on the shots efficacy on Thursday.

As a leader, I wouldn't force you to take it, he says, adding that it isn't quote scientifically proven.

Brazil plans to start inoculations in the middle of next week.